Background and purpose: Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor and the leading cause of death due to cancer among women. Previous studies have shown that increased expression of dysadherin promotes cancer metastasis and reduced expression of E-cadherin was also associated with progression of epithelial tumors. The aim of this study was concurrent assessment of E- cadherin and dysadherin expressions in breast cancer and their relationship with tumor progression. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, dysadherin and E-cadherin expressions were immunohistochemically examined in 70 cases of invasive ductal, 15 invasive lobular, and 8 medullary carcinomas. Results: In invasive ductal carcinoma, dysadherin expression was 21.7%, 75.6% and 100% in microscopic grades 1, 2 and 3, respectively, whereas these results were 86.9% , 70.2% and 10% for E-cadherin. Therefore, there was a significant correlation between expression of dysadherin and reduced expression of E-cadherin with microscopic grade (P<0.05). Interestingly, all invasive lobular carcinomas were dysadherin positive and E-cadherin negative. All medullary carcinomas (except one) were positive for both E-cadherin and dysadherin. Conclusion: It seems that positive dysadherin and negative E-cadherin expressions play a role in progression of ductal breast carcinomas.

Keywords: Immunohistochemistry, E-cadherin, dysadherin, invasive ductal breast carcinoma

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